School of Hard Knocks
by Valkyrie-chick
Summary: Alternate universe... This story takes the men of Easy Company being high school students at Easy Academy. It's senior year. College decisions, relationships fall apart and new ones begin. Slash and normal love. drinking, sex,and suicide mentioned.
1. First day of senior year

**Disclaimer: I don't own band of brothers but all the girls are mine except Helen McCrory cause she's a real person and really married to Damian Lewis. **

Chapter 1- First day of senior year

Dick Winters stood at his locker. It was the first day of his last year at Easy High School. This would be his senior year. He was the varsity soccer team captain, head of the newspaper staff and had already been accepted into Penn. State for soccer and planned on majoring in journalism.

Just as he was about to close his locker his best friend, Lewis Nixon arrived. Also a senior Nixon was on the cross country team, yearbook staff, rich kid and well known (at least among the students) drinker and smoker. Dick disapproved but mostly turned a blind eye towards it.

Dick turned to him and asked, "What's up Nix?"

"Tom and I broke up last week."

Dick had to try hard to keep from laughing. Nix was known among the student body as gay although his parents had no idea. He and Thomas Meehan had dated on and off since the second half of their sophomore year. They would go out for a few months then break up and then a week late have make-up sex and be back together again. They were lucky that the other kids at Easy didn't mind if their fellow students were openly gay.

Dick rolled his eyes and said, "You guys will be back together in a week. What was the cause this time?"

Nixon shook his head and said sadly, "We ain't getting back together ever! His parents caught him and me naked in his bed while he was giving me head. He told me the next day we couldn't be together anymore. He looked like his heart was breaking. I thought mine was too. I just found out yesterday that he attempted suicide three days ago and was unsuccessful. His parents blame me for their son being gay and attempting suicide."

Dick put his hand on Nix's shoulder and was about to say something to lift his spirits when Buck, his girlfriend Kellie, Don, Doc, Bull, his girlfriend Annie, Dick's girlfriend Helen and Lipton. Nix started to leave when Don called out to him and asked, "You been training for our first meet Nix?"

Nix got rid of his sad face and said happily, "Hell yeah! Those cougars of Dayton won't stand a chance against us. The Screaming Eagles will strike again and dominate like usual. With us Webster and… and Tom returning we'll destroy the competition."

Buck laughed at that and said, "The football team's working hard too. This is our year all the sports will sweep competition. Baseball, Soccer, Football, Wrestling, Basketball, Tennis, Cross Country and Swim and Dive will suffer next year though. At least they'll dominate till we leave. Dick, how's the soccer team doing?"

"They're doing good. We got the guys from last year returning with a couple of sophomores joining the team. We got a new goalie. Ain't that right Bull? He's sturdy and I think he'll prove to be a good asset."

Bull rolled his eyes and asked, "Is it part of your job to torture me?"

"Nope, just one of the many perks!"

The others laughed. Bull had been goalie for the JV team since freshmen year and had finally made varsity for senior year. Dick had been teasing him about how it took him four years for a coach who could stand his playing. The real truth was that the varsity soccer coach had retired after their junior year. The former varsity coach was Bull's stepdad who hated his guts. Bull's stepdad hated only one worse than Bull and that was Bull's girlfriend Annie. Annie was a shy girl and very smart. The things that went against her in Bull's stepdad's eyes were her being Japanese and being deaf. She could read lips and talk but she preferred to use sign language. Bull had taken a sign language course just so he could communicate in the way she felt most comfortable.

To change the subject Lipton spoke up and said, "Hey Dick! Webster's looking for you. He said something about one of the newspaper computers crashing or something. He looked like a nervous wreck. You better go find him before he has an anxiety overload."

"Thanks for the tip Lip! No rhyming pun intended. I'd better go find him before he gets worse."

At that moment Helen pointed out, "You promised me we'd hang out together. Just the two of us. Remember?"

Dick nodded, sighed and said, "Meet me at our usual place in an hour. Seniors don't have to show up till 4th hour. I'll help Webster out and meet you there. That a plan?"

Helen smiled, put her arms around Dick's neck and planted a kiss on his lips. Dick forgot about what he needed to do and pulled Helen closer to him and deepened the kiss. It wasn't till the catcalls started that they broke away. Both were winded and smiling when they broke away. They'd been a couple since shortly before sophomore year. They'd been friends though since they were five. Everyone in the group were smiling when Dick looked over except Nixon.

Nix looked like he wanted to escape and get drunk. Knowing Nix he'd probably do just that. Dick knew he needed to have someone who could keep him and his mind occupied from acting stupidly.

Dick gave Helen one more kiss before saying bye to the others. Just as he was leaving an idea popped into his head. He turned around, called Don over and whispered, "Malark, I need you to do something for me."

"Anything Dick!"

"Keep and eye on Nix today. Don't let him out of your sight! And whatever you do don't ask about or mention Tom. Can't tell you everything about it but it's one of those moments if you know what I mean. Promise me Don! Swear you'll do this!"

"I swear Dick! I don't want him hurt." Dick thanked him and headed to help David.

**Author's Note: **The next chapter will be a list of the guys and what their activities are for the whole year. For all those out there this story may take awhile on updates but anyone who knows my work knows that I take awhile but I'll be taking less time now that I'm more available to do it.


	2. Characters

**Disclaimer: I do not own Band of Brothers. I just own the girls except the lovely Helen McCrory who is Damian Lewis' wife. These are what I have them in at this point.**

Dick Winters- Soccer, Newspaper staff, Basketball, Track & Field, NHS

Lewis Nixon- Cross Country, Yearbook Staff, Basketball, Baseball

Buck Compton- Football, Baseball

Donald Malarkey- Cross Country, Band, NHS, Robotics

Bull Randleman- Soccer, Wrestling

David Webster- Cross Country, Newspaper staff, NHS

Harry Welsh- Band, Debate, Tennis, NHS, Chamber Choir

George Luz- Forensics, Swim and Dive, Concert Choir

Bill Guarnere- Football, Basketball

Joe Toye- Soccer, Tennis

Floyd Talbert- Trap Shooting, Theatre

Ronald Speirs- Basketball, Baseball, Trap Shooting

Johnny Martin- Chamber Choir, Baseball, Yearbook Staff

Carwood Lipton- Chamber Choir, Student Council

Moose Heyliger- Student Council, Debate

Popeye Wynn- Theatre

Shifty Powers- Trap Shooting, Track & Field

Alex Penkala- Theatre

Thomas Meehan- Cross Country, Band

Joseph Liebgott- Tennis, Swim and Dive

Skip Muck- Theatre

Frank Perconte- Baseball, Swim and Dive

Babe Heffron- Student Techie, Basketball

Doc Roe- Student Techie, NHS, Robotics

Donald Hoobler- Robotics

Roy Cobb-Wrestling

John Janovek- Wrestling


	3. Lunch Table Chat

**Disclaimer: I do not own Band of Brothers. I don't mean any disrespect to the real men. I admire them quite a lot. This is based off the series and the actor's portrayals of the men. I do however claim to own all the girls minus Helen McCrory who is a real person and married to Damian Lewis in real life who played Dick Winters in the show. I also don't own Kitty Grogan either cause she really lives and she married Harry Welsh in real life.**

Chapter 2- Lunch Table Chat

Fifth hour held the Senior-only lunch shifts, so Dick left College Composition to meet his friends. Lunch was divided into 4 shifts for the seniors. The sophomores and juniors shared lunch during 4th hour in five shifts.

Dick found Harry, Nix, and Luz already seated and joking around. Dick took his usual seat next to Nix. They were soon joined by Buck, Don, Bull, David, Roe, Bill and even Ron. Only one of their female friends had the same lunch shift. It was Shiloh Hawkfeather.

If her name didn't give it away that she was half Native American, then her long dark hair, almond colored eyes and her darker skin did. Her mother had died giving birth to her, and her father remarried when she was ten. Her father had married their friend Joe Liebgott's mom. His parents had divorced when he was seven on account his dad being an alcoholic. They had gotten really close and now Joe took on the protective "older' brother role.

The guys knew that if they so much as looked at Shiloh affectionately in front of him, he'd blow up. He'd about killed Don when he'd asked her to the Homecoming dance their sophomore year. The only thing that stopped him was Dick and Nix telling him that if she didn't go with Don she'd say yes to Joe Toye or Floyd Talbert who were far worse than shy and nice Donald Malarkey. He'd conceded his permission and they were now a couple. Shiloh sat next to Don and David, comparing the different schedules for the girls' and boys' cross country teams.

When left to themselves, the boys typically talked about either sports or sex. Shiloh was the only girl, except maybe Kellie, whom they considered "one of the guys," that they could talk to and joke normally. She had grown up without much feminine influence in her life till her father had remarried but Shiloh had stayed true to her tomboyish ways . She'd played sports with them when they had grown up even before her and Liebgott became siblings. She'd lost some of her tomboy outlook but still spent most of her time hanging out with them. The only topic she wouldn't talk about was her and Don's sex life. She let him discuss it when she wasn't there and neither was Liebgott but the other couples were free game.

Her and Don used traveling cross country meets to satisfy their hormones because it was the only place Liebgott couldn't catch them. They loved each other a lot but Liebgott's protectiveness got annoying after awhile. The rest of the group sided with them.

It was a good thing that when they graduated Joe would be going to USC, to study theology while Shiloh and Don were both going to Georgia Tech. Don was going to be a chemical engineer while Shiloh was going to be an architect. They all knew what they were going to be in life.

Harry and his girlfriend Kitty had both been accepted to Julliard. Harry was specializing in music composition and Kitty in contemporary theatre. David had just received word on his full ride scholarship to Harvard for journalism. Roe was headed to Medical school at LSU. He'd wanted to be a Pediatrics Oncologist since his little sister Madeline had been diagnosed with Leukemia two years before. Bull was headed to Texas to major in business management.

Nixon was going to Yale much to Webster's dismay. It would be the first time they wouldn't be running for the same team but running on rival teams. Nix assured him they'd still be friends despite college rivalry. They weren't the only friendship that would be strained.

George Luz and Frank Perconte were best buds and even on the Swim and Dive team together, but their colleges were certainly not friendly. Luz was headed to Iowa St. for theatre and Perconte was going to Nebraska to major in secondary education, which made everyone laugh. At about 5'3", Perconte was shorter than not only the guys, but most of the girls too. All of his future students would be taller than him. Suddenly the topic at the table changed to the girls. Shiloh just resumed eating her lunch to let Don join the conversation. The girl up for discussion was Erica. She was a junior that was dating Luz. He'd met her through Buck's girlfriend Kellie. He had asked her to Prom the year before and they'd ended up dating. Apparently the week before Luz and her had finally had sex. They'd tried a second time two days before school, but Perconte had tried to sneak into Luz's room window to escape his parent's fighting while they were going at it: neither blamed Perconte.

The entire group knew about Perconte's home life. His parents argued a lot, and sometimes were drunk and got violent. Luz's parents told him he was welcome anytime if the situation got bad. They'd even given him a house key. He'd forgotten it that night when he'd left and he'd found the front door locked he'd climbed up the tree near Luz's window and climbed in. Perconte wasn't the only one with family problems.. Some of the other guys had divorced or separated parents. A couple of them had workaholic parents that were never there.

The topic moved on to the Newspaper and Yearbook staffs. Dick and Web related the Newspaper had a bigger staff this year and would have it's first draft by the second week of school.

Shiloh asked Nix, "When's the first yearbook meeting?"

"I thought maybe right after school today for returning members and next Wednesday have an informational meeting for interested freshmen. I'll have to check with Johnny but I'll expect him to say yes. I take it you're returning then?"

"Of course I am! I'm your best photographer. Well… aside from you and Johnny but Johnny's chief editor and student chief of staff this year. We need a replacement. Any suggestions oh great and enlightened one?"

The guys laughed at that. There was a running joke that Nix found out everything about the school, the other students, the staff and the school board before anyone else. No one knew how he did it so Shiloh and Johnny Martin started calling him the Great Enlightened One.

The yearbook staff was made of students from every social circle. They were known for their antics by students and the staff alike. Johnny Martin was the student head of it all. Johnny was senior in their group of friends. He along with Nix and Shiloh had been photographers together since freshmen year but this year but this year he was chief of staff mostly because of seniority but because Nix would goof off too much and Shiloh would become the hag bitch from hell dictator type. It was finally set up as Johnny being chief while Nix and Shiloh would be co-assistant chiefs. They'd even made t-shits with their nicknames on the back and everything. Johnny was the Chief, Nix was the Enlightened One and Shiloh was the Feminist.

Nix sat there and said, "I haven't a clue. Any ideas guys?"

The guys pitched names for five minutes to Nix and Shiloh before three names they liked were suggested. Roe suggested Babe Heffron, Harry suggested Carwood Lipton and Ron suggested Floyd Talbert. Nix and Shiloh started talking together in their own kind of yearbook terminology.

That continued for a few minutes when Nix said, "I'll talk to Lipton while you get Floyd. Roe can talk to Heffron since they work together. I have Johnny I my next class so I'll run it by him. We have a plan?" Shiloh nodded and Nix continued, "Good! Glad that's taken care of!" Finally the bell rang and they headed back to class.

**Author's Note: I thank you who are reading this story. It means a lot when I get a new person alerting this story or reviewing. A lot of this is based on my real life high school experiences with some twists here and there. I'd like to personally thank first my beta on here, Scratchy Wilson and my most loyal fan Iloveboyswhosparkle who is addicted to this and notices my somewhat subtle Life references I slip in here and there. Thanks a lot and I do love reviews and respond to them always.**


	4. Study Hall

**Disclaimer: I don't own Band of Brothers. I mean no disrespect to the actual men who fought in Easy Company. I've based this on the actor's portrayals of them men in the HBO production. I do however own all the girls except Helen McCrory and Kitty Grogan. **

Chapter 3- Study Hall

Dick's last class of the day was Study Hall with David, Nix, Johnny, Lipton, Don and Roe. He decided it would be there that he would talk with Nix. The others, with the exceptions of Roe and Lipton, hung out with Nix quite a lot, either through sports or school publication activities. Even if Roe and Lipton didn't know Lew that well, Dick knew that they would still be supportive and willing to help his best friend.

Dick arrived to see Lipton and Roe already at there regular table- the one they used for lunch- joking about something. Dick joined them and was soon followed by Johnny and David, who were busy arguing over whether or not they should share photographers. It was an argument that happened every year, and resulted, every year, with the yearbook having a shortage of photographers while the newspaper had plenty.

Dick let them duke it out; Johnny was making David look like an idiot. David was a great editor, but better at writing things out than phrasing an argument on the fly. It was quite entertaining to watch him fail against Johnny, who looked equally amused by David's blundering attempts at making a point.

Don and Nix came in after them, joking about something. When they sat down, they were still laughing and laughing so hard that the teacher in charge of Study Hall glared at them and only the threat of detention quieted them.

Roe was the first to ask, "What's so darn funny? I've known both of you for years, and I've never thought either of you were _that_ funny."

Both Nix and Don started to giggle again, earning them another glare, before Nix said, "Well, it started when Sobel caught Janovec and some getting all hot and heavy with some sophomore chick in a deserted hallway."

"Somehow I'm not finding this as funny as you do. That's typical of Janovec."

"Patience, Gene", Don replied, "We're getting there. Anyways Sobel starts freaking out cause the girls got one hand down Janovec's pants. Sobel, being the idiot he is, yells at them loud enough that Coach Strayer comes out of his classroom to see what's going on. He sees Sobel pitching a fit in the middle of the hallway and Janovec's trying to buckle his jeans and the girls trying to sneak away, and asks. "Herbert, what the hell is going on?"

Nix jumped in and said, "So Sobel's like, 'I'm assigning two students detention for public indecency.'

"And Strayer, being the awesome guy he is replies, "Herbert, get your ass back to your own classroom, and leave the punishment of my students to me. You should know better than to yell so loudly that everyone in the school can hear you."

"So Strayer turns to Janovec and the girl and says, "Mr. Janovec and Miss Burns, get to class. I'll let you off the hook this time but don't do it again."

"Sobel's face was so red! And the best part was Strayer just rolled his eyes at him and went back to his classroom. We'd been on our way to class when it happened. Sobel stormed off loudly, kicking lockers in frustration. Once he started kicking the lockers, you could hear Strayer laughing his head off. I've never seen Sobel that angry or embarrassed."

"Sobel will take it out on the drama kids. Skip, Alex, Popeye and Luz'll have to watch it. Small mercy Floyd's sick today or he'd get it too." Roe commented.

"What's wrong with Floyd?" asked a puzzled Don.

Roe replied, "He's got swine flu. I told him to just blame Obama. It's easier that way." The others laughed. They all knew the Obama joke about the swine flu. (AN: For anyone who isn't familiar with what I'm talking about… the joke is as follows: People said pigs would fly before we would have a black president… well… a 100 days into Obama's presidency… the swine flu.)

"Poor Tab! First his girlfriend dumps him then, his parents tell him they're getting divorced and now he gets swine flu." Lipton said talking for the first time making the others have to turn to notice who said the comment.

David looked confused and said, "I knew about his girlfriend but his parents getting divorced… I had no idea. When did it happen?"

Roe sighed and said, "The day after his girlfriend broke up with him. I've never seen Floyd that sad before. Right after they told him he left and ran the three blocks to my house. He stayed there all night on my couch. He told me his dad was leaving and that he'd be staying with his mom."

Everyone at their table had no experience with their own parents divorcing. They all knew that Tab's parents fought often, but they were also very religious people that didn't agree with divorce. Something must have changed for the worse for them to turn to divorce.

Dick decided it was time to confront Nix. He turned to his best friend and asked, "How are you doing?"

Nix turned towards Dick to see nothing but concern in his eyes. Nix knew Dick wouldn't let it go so he replied, "I'm dealing. I don't know why I'm here instead of by his side asking why he did it, or drowning myself in booze. I can't stand it!"

The others were paying attention now. Nix had buried his head in his hands, shaking it from side to side. Lipton, the official "Mother Hen" of the group asked, "Nix what's wrong?"

When Nix didn't respond Dick told the group what had happened. Once he was finished, the group sat silently in shock. They were all friends, or in Don and David's case teammates of Tom. They also knew about Tom's parents. Particularly his severely homophobic father. Adam Meehan was a bigot and crazy to boot. He hated homosexuals so much that he'd made some suggestions to the school board about not allowing them to be open about themselves, without having to speak with the school counselors frequently about their choice of a "bad" lifestyle. Some of the board members agreed they should talk to a school counselor every once in awhile, to check on them mainly, but they disagreed that the sessions should focus on attempts to turn them straight.

A lot of their friends had been through those "counselor" sessions including Nix, Ron, Roe, Lip, David, Liebgott and Hoobler, who was bi but favored girls. He'd even had a girlfriend at the time. They had all been ratted out by other students or Sobel. Everyone knew Sobel was good friends with Tom's dad, and was equally homophobic.

Johnny was the one to break the silence, saying, "This is pure crap! Why does that bastard have to be so cruel to his own son? He needs to realize that he could lose Tom forever. Either that boy will stand up to him and never talk to or see his father again, or he'll succeed the next time he tries to take his own life. Tom's never been fully stable, mental-wise, because of his dad and his bigotry. The fact is, though, that he might hate all gay people, but he hates Nix most of all. He's known Nix was gay for awhile now, and strongly advised Tom to not be friends with him because he would "turn him" gay. Now that he found out about their relationship he thinks that's what happened. That man is hate… just plain hate."

Nix suddenly looked up and said, "We can't do anything about it. The fucking system follows his rules. He's on the school board and the church board. He's friends with a lot of higher ups and not to mention he is one of the richer people in this town. A lot of people are scared of him…. Especially Tom. What can we really do?"

All of the guys just sat there in silence. They didn't know what the could do. Tom's dad was a hated man to most students at Easy but no one knew how to stop him. Finally David said, "We need to ask the others. They may have some ideas."

The others all agreed. They decided to meet up at Nix's house after school to discuss ideas.

**Author's Note: I'm sorry for the delay but as much as I'd love to rest and relax my last summer of high school before I become a senior it is not to be so. I had to tutor at my high school during summer school to get two free years of college paid off. This ranked higher in my mind then any story I could ever write. I do however still love writing this story and for anyone who's also reading Femininity… I'll post the next few chapters in a bit. And finally I'd love to thank my amazing beta of both stories… Scratchy Wilson. She's been over in France studying abroad and has gladly taken the time to help me with my many writing conundrums. It's because of her this story is as good as it is. Any mistakes you may notice are of my fault… not hers. Well… I'm off! Valkyrie-Chick **


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